Flexible water bag or bucket



Sept. 16, 1924.

W. E. Rosa FLEXIBLE WATER BA'GT'OYR BUCKET Filed July 19, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Sept 16. I924.

' W. E. ROSE FLEXIBLE WATER BAG OR BUCKET Filed July 19,

1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR m 6. 4% v Patented Sept. 16, 1924.

UNITED STATES WALTER E. RCSE, OF BOULDER, COLORADO.

FLEXIBLE- WATER BAG- OR BUCKET.

Application filedJuly 19, 1922. Serial No. 575,951,.

To all wit-0m it may comer n:

Be it known that l, human E. Rose, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Boulder, count of Boulder, and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l lexiblc Water Bags or Buckets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to a water bucket or bag for the use ot window cleaners or the like, for holding water, as well as brush, sponge, wet cloths or the like; the bucket or bag being adapted to be suspended from the waistband or belt of the operator, so that the accessories carried therein may be readily available.

The ordinary method followed in window cleaning operations is for the operator to have an ordinary bucket of water, placed on the floor or sidewalk, from which he takes the wet brush, sponge or cloth. He then gets out on the window sill or climbs the ladder and applies the wet brush or cloth to the window. When the opcration'is completed the wet brush or cloth is either dropped to the sidewalk or floor or returned to the water bucket and in these operations it the wet brush or cloth is dropped on the sidewalk it accumulates dust and'dirt; it dropped on the inside floor or furniture, it soils the floor or furniture, and in any case, much lost motion is caused in dropping and picking up these articles and in going to and hem the water bucket.

It canreadily be seen, therefore, that one object of my improvement is to provide a satisfactory port-able water bag o-rbucket, which the operator may attach to his belt and have with him as he works on the window sill, or ladder, thus not only enabling him to save unnecessary steps, but it will be more cleanly in that there would be less water dropped on the floor or sidewalk, and no dirt picked up from the sidewalk by the brush or cloth.

In making bags or buckets of this character, and using them in actual operation, it has been found that as the operator movesabout, while cleaning the window or going up and down a ladder, the jogging and jostling of the bag will "frequently cause the water to splash out over the top and, thereforc, a :l uther object of my improvement is to pro ide such a bag with. means eti'ectuiilly to prevent the water from splashing out. Obviously, in providing such a splash means it is desirable, when an apron is em plo-yed, to provide menus for definitely holding it, so that it cannot adhere or become plastered to t l-1e walls of the bag, and in my imprm'ement such means is provided. It is preferable that/the connecting, means betweenthe splash apron and body of the beg for holding them apart be made of flexible material in order that the bag, as a whole may be readily collapsed when necessary.

A distending member for holding the mouth of the bag open is a necessary adjunct and may be of any suitable construction. However, one object of my improvement is to so construct the bag that the disteuding'member may be. remo-vably inserted, and so construct the distending member that the parts thereof may be readily inserted vand removed from the bag, and when inserted therein, will be rigidly secured together. When the bag' becomes worn out and leaky the metaldistending ringlczin be removed from the old bag and inserted in'a new one, without theinecessityof any special tools for the purpose.

For suspending and carrying the bag or bucket it is desirabletoprovide a suitable clip or'loop, which may be attached to the waistband or belt of the operator and in my construction, I have preferably secured this suspending clip to the distending member at the top of the bag or bucket.

As previously stated, it will be understood that, since the bags or buckets are made of canvas or other flexible material and waterproot'ed, they will sooner or later, under the roughhandling they receive, begin to leak or become so worn that they can be of no further service. Therefore, a further object of my improvement is to provide an an 'iliary protecting bag of substantially the same shape as the primary bag and enclosing the latter, the two bags being preferynbly secured together by suitable means, such t;1 ;kiug with thread at two or three 'points, thereby preventing accidental removal of the protecting bag. By providing the bag or bucket with this protecting bag,

it will readily be understood that leakage cannot so readily occur and since the main wear is on the outer surface of ther ba-g, the auxiliarybagcan be readily removed and replaced with a new bag, after it has become worn.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 have illustrated one form of my improved water bag or bucket, particularly adapted for the use of window cleaners, and Fig. 1 shows the bag in elevation in section along the line 1-1 of Fig'Q; Fig. 2 represents atop plan view of thebag; Fig. 3 is a transverse sec tion of thebag on the line'33 of Fig. 1'; Fig. 4 is a plan View of the distending member for the top of the bag Fig. 5 is a per spective view of the bag as attachedto the belt of the operator; 6 is a rear view of the bag; Fig. 7 is a detailed-view of the 'distending 'ing with one of the members shown in section; Fig. 8 is a side view of 1 water proof material, such as canvas or duck line impregnated with 'parafline' or other suitable water proofing materials The top portion of thebag at 2 may be made narrower by cutting out V-shaped strips and sewing the edges together again or simply by dartlike pleats, such as are ell-known in dressmaking or tailoring. vPJeEerably, the uppenporti n of the be is provided with a horn which is forine -by turning the mae'iialof the in and sew ng it along the From my experience, I have found that, in bags of this character, the water there in is apt to splash out when the bags are bumped around. and roughly handled, as they will be in, use, and to prevent this, a

splash apron 61s provided, which extends downward into the bag and which in operation, is adapted to' prevent the w ater from splashing up over the'top of the bag or bucket. The apron 6 as here shown is continuous with the material of the bag and eXten-dsxfrom the hem 4;. It ispreferably made funnel-shaped by. means of dart-like pleats 7, so as to provide space between the apron and the body of the bag for the splash of the water. i

In order to prevent the apron. from be ing drawn up or turned inside out it is preferable to provide connecting means bealso serve to hold the apron away from the "walls of the bag, thereby preventing the splash of the water from passing the apron and reaching the top of the bag.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the bag is-preferably onlyhpartially filled with water so that the upper surface thereof is below the lower end .of'the apron 6, in which case any splash will freely pass up between the apron and the bag. The central opening of the funnel-shaped apron is large enough for the operator to pass his hands through to pick up the sponge,'brush or wet cloths or rags that may be carried in the bag. 7

The bag is preferably made of canvas or duck, suitably water-proofed, but it has been found that after considerableuse and rough wear, the bag may leak or sweat to a certain extent, at least enough to be annoying to the user and for this reason, I have'found the form shown, ends at 10, as will be seen inFigsJl and 5 of the drawings. The auxiliary bag has the double function of preventing any leakage or sweating of the primary bag and of receiving the greater wear, thereby protecting the inner bag,

which on account of its construction is more expensive to replace. When the auxiliary outer bag 9 becomes wornso that its use fnlness is impaired, it inav be removed and rep aced with new cove ng bag, and this in y be done repeatedly, whereby the pribag may beeontinued in use for an finite period.

in order that the SQCOLQQPY bag may be dily removable and the same time. to ent accidental removal thereof, while in use, it is preferably secured to the primary bag at one ormore points by tacking with thread as indicated at 11in Fig. 5 of. the

drawings. WV hen the miter-auxiliary bag is to be removed, the tacking threads are cut. As previously stated, the auxiliary bag 9 is preferably of the same shape as the primary bag and the open end thereof is narrower than the body portion. This may be accom plished by dart-like pleats, indicated at 12 in Fig. 3 and 6 of the drawings.

Obviously, it may be desirable at times to empty thewater out of the 'bag and this might be done by dipping it out or taking it out with-a sponge, but it'is preferable to provide means for pouring it out. For this purpose, the apron may be provided with one or more slits 13 located near the junction between the apron and the upper portion of the water bag, s bstantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The size and number of such slits or openings may be varied, according to requirements.

In a water bag or bucket of this character, it is desirable to have the open mouth of the bag distended at all times and also to provide means for supporting or suspending the bag from the waistband or belt of the operator, so that it may be in convenient position for use, as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the d -awings. For distending the mouth of the bag, the hem at is preferably provided with slots 1% at the rear side of the bag, through which a loop of wire 1:), or other suitable flexible metal strip may be inserted into the hem as indicated in Figs. 1 and 9 of the drawings. When a loop of wire is used, the ends may be provided with hook-like ends 16 as indicated in Figs. 1; and '7 of the drawings, and these ends may be connected by a connecting bar 17 of suit able width to enter the slits 14 and complete the circle or ring forming the distending member of the. bag. Various methods may be followed for connecting or securing the ends 16 of the wire loop 15 to the connecting member 17, but preferably this may be done by providing the ends oi the strips 17 with elongated slots 18 and adjacent holes 19, as indicated in Figs. 7 and d of the drawings. It will be seen, from this arrangement, that the bent hook-like ends 16 o l the flexible wire loop may be passed up through the slots 18 and the ends of the wire hooked in the hole 19, thereby securing the loop 15 to the piece 17 to form a rigid ring-like structure. The back-side of the hem of the bag at 20 may be provided with openings or slits for access to theends 16 of the distending loop, so as to facilitate inserting and removing the ring from the top of the bag. It will be apparent that the distending members 1517 may be inserted and removed from a bag or transferred from one bag to another.

In order that the bag may be attached to the waistband or carried on a belt B, as indicatedin Figs. 1, 2 and 5 of the draw ings, a clip or loop 21, of thin barmetal may be secured by a rivet 22 to the connecting member 17, thereby providing means for readily suspending the bag from the waistband or belt and permitting easy removal thereof at any time. As previously stated, the canvas bags, after being subjected to long wear, may be readily replaced, the outer auxiliary bag 9 repeatedly, until the inner bag wears out, and then the latter may be removed from the distending ring 15-17 and the ring used in another bag. There fore,in this construction, it will be seen that the parts are. designed for ready replacement and for hard usage and long wear.

The use and operation of my improved window cleaners water bag or bucket may be readily understood from the description given, but it might be desirable to describe more particularly the operation of removing the distending ring members "from the hem. l at the top of the bag. It will be. seen from Fig. l) of the drawings, that the con necting member 17 enters the slits 14 and in part lying over the outside of the hem between the two slits. At this point, the suspending clip 21 is located. To remove the distending member, the clip-21 should be turned into parallel relation to the member 17 ,to which it is attached. Then by 1na nipulation,through the slots or opening 20, the ends 16 of the loop 15 are dis-connected from the holes 19 and pulled out of the slots 18; Now the member 17 and clip 21 can be moved to one side or the other in the hem, the direction of movement being toward the open end of the clip 21 when it is parallel with. the piece 17. In this manner, one end 01 the connecting members 17 is brought far enough over to pass out of the corresponding slits 1 1, and then the entire connect-ing member 17, together with the clip 21 may be withdrawn or pulled out of the other slit 14;, after which the loop 15 can be worked around and pulled out, either through the openings 20 or the slits 14. The reverse operation will be followed in inserting the distending ring member into the hem a of the bag.

While I have shown my preferred form, which has been developed, as a result oi the actual use of various forms, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the specific construction shown, for, obviously, various modifications in the specific details thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1 claim 1. A, water bag of flexible material provided with a funnel-shaped splash apron, extending part-way into the bag and interposed members connected respectively to the bag and the apron, for holding the latter out of contact with the bag.

2. A water bag of flexible material, the upper end of which is of less cross-sectional area than the lower portion of the bag, provided with an apron of flexible material extending downward for a portion of the depth of the bag, and means located bet-ween the apron and the wall of the bag for holding the lower end of the apron out of contact with the bag.

3. A water bag of flexible material, the open end of which is narrower than the body portion of the bag, and the material of which is looped back upon itself into the bag to form an apron extending downward into the bag fora portion of its depth, and flexible connecting members between the lower end of the apron and the body or" the bag for preventing the apron clinging to the walls of the bag. 7

d. A Water bag of flexible material, provided with a splash apron, normally out of contact With the Walls of the bag and means con'iprising an opening or slit at or near the point of attachn'ient of the aprontothe bag for permitting the water to be emptied.

5. A water bag of flexible material, the open end of which is provided with a hem, in Which aflexible metal loop is inserted for distending and holding the bag open, a connecting member to Which the ends of said loop are secured and a suspending clip pivotally mounted on said connecting member, whereby the bag may be attached to the Waistband or belt of the'user.

6. A Water bag of flexible material, providedwith a splash apron, extending into the bag for a portion of its depth, means dental removal thereof, I 7 '81 in a water bag or bucket, otthe char- :icter described, provided with a hem at the ed and means, at one side of the bag for suspending the same from the Waistband'or H belt of the user.

7. In a Water bag or bucket of the character described, theooinbination of a splash apron, extending into the bag from the upper edge thereof, means connecting the lower end of the splash apron With the Walls of the bag; for holding the apron away from the latter, an auxiliary protecting bag enclosing the first bag and extending to near the top thereof, and means for securing the second bag to the first bag to prevent acciopen mouth thereof, the conjlhination ot" a flexible metal loop reinovably inserted in the hem, the latter helm;provided with suitable openings or slits [or lhis iurpose, a connecting; inenil'ier forming with said loop a rigid distending device for the mouth of the bag and means for securing said connecting in ember and the ends of said metal loop together.

WALTER Ross. 

